Google URL Removal Tool Does Not Stop Crawling; It Hides The URL In Search

Aug 9, 2018 - 7:38 am 1 by

Google Hidden

Google's John Mueller explained on Twitter that the Google URL removal tool does not stop Google from crawling the URL, instead it just hides that URL in the search results.

This is actually something we covered in 2003 where we covered "The URL removal tool does not remove URLs from the index, it removes them from our search results. The difference is subtle, but it's a part of the reason why you don't see those submissions affect the indexed URL count."

Here is John's tweet:

So you can expect the URL to be crawled but also not shown in the search results, at least for as long as the removal process is in affect.

Forum discussion at Twitter.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: January 9, 2026

Jan 9, 2026 - 10:00 am
Search Video Recaps

Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google Volatility, Personalized Google AI Answers, Microsoft Copilot Checkout & More SEO & PPC News

Jan 9, 2026 - 8:01 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

Google Talks On Hiring A GEO/AEO/SEO & Buying AI-Optimization Tools

Jan 9, 2026 - 7:51 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

Google: Don't Turn Your Content Into Bite-Sized Chunks

Jan 9, 2026 - 7:41 am
Bing Search

Microsoft Agents: Copilot Checkout & Brand Agents

Jan 9, 2026 - 7:31 am
Bing Search

Bing Tests Retro Local Pack In Search Results

Jan 9, 2026 - 7:21 am
 
Previous Story: Google My Business Menu & Services Editing Now Globally Available